7 – US foreknowledge

American foreknowledge of the attacks has been demonstrated over and over again. Film producer and political activist Aaron Russo said that a member of the Rockefeller family, one of the biggest financial powers in the US, had told him eleven months before the attacks that there would soon be ‘an event’ and a ‘hoax’ to start a ‘war on terror’ and wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

But if that’s all a bit ‘conspiracy theorist’ for you, here are the cold, hard facts: America had over a hundred warnings during the summer of 2001 that a spectacular al Qaeda attack on major Washington and/or New York targets, involving multiple hijacked airplanes and possibly planes flown into buildings, was imminent. Although US intelligence services had successfully prevented three to four dozen al Qaeda attacks during the nineties, this time they did nothing.

Following the attacks, President George W. Bush said “nobody in our government at least, and I don’t the think the prior government, could envisage flying air planes into buildings”, and National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice claimed no-one “could have predicted that they would try to use an airplane as a missile”. An Air Force general called the attack “something we had never seen before, something we had never even thought of”, FBI Director Robert Mueller announced “there were no warning signs that I’m aware of that would indicate this type of operation in the country”, and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Richard B Myers said “You hate to admit it, but we hadn’t thought about this”. These claims were patently false:

June 2001 – German intelligence warned the CIA, MOSSAD and British intelligence that Middle Eastern militants were planning to hijack commercial aircraft to use as weapons to attack American and Israeli symbols.

June 21st – In an interview with a Middle East Broadcasting Company reporter, senior al Qaeda officials promised that “[the] coming weeks will hold important surprises that will target American and Israeli interests in the world” and said “It’s time to penetrate America and Israel and hit them where it hurts most”.

June 25th – The White House received a Senior Executive Intelligence Brief (SEIB) entitled, “Bin Laden and Associates Making Near-Term Threats”.

June 28th – CIA official Richard Blee gave a briefing on the state of the terrorism threat to CIA Director George Tenet and Counterterrorist Center Director Cofer Black, identifying more than ten specific pieces of intelligence about attacks expected within weeks.

June 30th – A New York Times reporter received information from a Yemeni source via a top White House official that a major attack was imminent.

July 5th – Counterterrorism tsar Richard Clarke warned several domestic agencies of an urgent terrorist threat, but the response and follow-up was poor.

July 9th – The CIA believed a major al Qaeda attack was imminent after a Chechen rebel leader promised ‘very big news’ to his fighters.

July 10th – FBI agent Ken Williams issued a memo noting his concern about the increasing number of middle-eastern ‘individuals of investigative interest’ taking flying lessons in Arizona (though none of the actual hijackers are among the names he lists, despite flight 77 pilot Hani Hanjour attending the school). Verylittleaction was taken in response.

July 10th – Cofer Black and Richard Blee briefed CIA Director George Tenet again on the imminent threat from al Qaeda. Tenet was so alarmed by the multiple and urgent warnings detailed that he took the information straight to the White House and met with Condoleeza Rice, who was polite but brushed him off and failed to take any action.

July 16th – British intelligence warned Tony Blair and other British officials that al Qaeda was in the final stages of planning a major attack. The prediction was “based on intelligence gleaned not just from [British intelligence] but also from US agencies, including the CIA and the National Security Agency”. This followed another earlier warning from MI5.

Late July – Egpytian intelligence offered the CIA information about twenty al Qaeda operatives in the US, four of whom were learning to fly. The CIA did not request the information.

Late July – Argentina’s Jewish community received warnings of a major attack in America, and passed it on to the US.

Late July – The Taliban themselves warned the US that bin Laden was planning a huge attack in the US.

Late July – CIA director George Tenet said that the terrorist threat level was the worst it could be.

July 31st – The FAA warned airlines of an imminent terrorist threat which may involve hijackings, but the alert expired before 9/11 and pilots and flight attendants said they never heard about it anyway.

Early August – Government informant Randy Glass warned politicians of a planned attack on the World Trade Center.

Early August – Britain warned the US specifically about multiple airline hijackings, in a message which reached President Bush.

August 2nd – A senior Taliban official predicted, to a reporter, that the US would soon attack Afghanistan, probably in response to the expected terror attack.

August – Russian intelligence and President Vladimir Putin warned the US that suicide pilots were training for terrorist attacks on American targets.

August 6th – President Bush received a detailed presidential briefing memo entitled ‘Bin Laden determined to strike in US”. Bush told the CIA briefer “You’ve covered your ass now,” and spent the rest of the day fishing. The briefing wasnot acted upon. This is one of forty briefings Bush received about the al Qaeda threat during 2001.

August – A former CIA agent recieved information from a Saudi military official about a ‘spectacular terrorist attack’ to take place shortly. He passed this on to a senior CIA official, who did nothing.

August 15th – Cofer Black, head of the CIA’s Counter Terrorism Center, warned the Department of Defense; “We are going to be struck soon, many Americans are going to die, and it could be in the US.”

August 16th – The FAA issued a warning to airlines about terrorists who may have disguised weapons.

Late August – French intelligence warns the US that many al Qaeda operatives are planning a major assault on large-scale targets.

Late summer – Intelligence in Jordan warned the CIA that planes would be used in a major attack inside the US.

September 6th – A Pakistani student in New York told his teacher “See those two buildings? They won’t be there next week.” This information was not relayed to the FBI until after 9/11, but the student and his family were found not to have any involvement in the attacks, so it shows what common knowledge the plot was in certain communities.

September 10th – A Syrian CIA informant told his handlers ‘something big was about to go down’.

With all these warnings flooding in (and the above list is not exhaustive), the failures that rendered America apparently totally unprepared for the attacks are unbelievable. Yet at least seven of the key figures who failed to pass on information or obstructed investigations that would have led to the 9/11 plot were not punished, but promoted.

Senior Warner Bros execs declined a funeral service on Sept 11th because “something big” was to happen that day and they’d all be leaving New York – but they didn’t go to the same place, but were doing their own things that day.

At the same time, certain key figures were not at work in the WTC offices that morning:

Larry Silverstein, leaseholder of the World Trade Center who had taken control of the site just six months earlier, was fortunately at a dermatologist apppointment instead of having his usual breakfast meeting in a restaurant at the top of the north tower. His son and daughter, who worked for him on the 88th floor, were both luckily running late that morning and were not in their office at the time of the attack. Silverstein Properties had a meeting about the danger of terrorist attack planned that morning in the north tower, but cancelled it Monday night because ‘one participant could not attend’.

Jim Pierce, cousin of President Bush, was scheduled to attend a conference on the 105th floor of the South Tower, where his company’s New York offices were based. But the conference was moved across the street to the Millennium Hotel, because ‘the group was too large’.

A number of business leaders who would normally have been in the World Trade Center were instead at a meeting at Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska (the same Air Force base and underground control centre that George Bush flew to later in the day apparently for a teleconference with Cheney and others).

On 9/11, President Bush was visiting Booker Elementary School in Sarasota, Florida. The visit had been publicised in advance, and was just a few miles from a major airport. Yet at 9:03, when he was informed that a second plane had crashed into the World Trade Center, the Secret Service, whose primary task is to protect the President, did nothing to remove him to a secure place and he finished the visit as planned, staying at the school for another half hour. This demonstrates either extraordinary incompetence, or absolute confidence of his safety.

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"We have come to be one of the worst ruled, one of the most completely controlled and dominated, governments in the civilized world—no longer a government by free opinion, no longer a government by conviction and the vote of the majority, but a government by the opinion and the duress of small groups of dominant men."
-- Woodrow Wilson, 1913

"In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist... Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial and military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods and goals so that security and liberty may prosper together."
-- Dwight D Eisenhower, 1961

"We could blow up a US ship in Guantanamo Bay and blame Cuba. We could blow up a drone (unmanned) vessel anywhere in the Cuban waters... The US could follow up with an air/sea rescue operation covered by US fighters to "evacuate" remaining members of the non-existent crew. Casualty lists In US newspapers would cause a helpful wave of national indignation... We could develop a Communist Cuban terror campaign... pointed at Cuban refugees seeking haven in the United States. We could sink a boatload of Cubans enroute to Florida (real or simulated)."
-- Operation Northwoods, signed by the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, 1962

"He's the one who told me, eleven months before 9/11 ever happened, that there was going to be an event... and out of that event we were going to invade Afghanistan, to run pipelines from the Caspian Sea, we were gonna invade Iraq, you know, to take over the oil fields and establish a base in the middle east... And sure enough, later 9/11 happened, and I remember he was telling me how we were going to see soldiers looking in caves for people in Afghanistan and Pakistan and all these places, and there's gonna be this "war on terror", in which there's no real enemy, and the whole thing is a giant hoax, you know, but it's a way for the government to take over the American people."
-- Aaron Russo, film producer and political activist, speaking about Nick Rockefeller, 2007

"Of course the people don't want war. But after all, it's the leaders of the country who determine the policy, and it's always a simple matter to drag the people along whether it's a democracy, a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism, and exposing the country to greater danger."
-- Herman Goering, second in command of the Third Reich, at the Nuremberg trials, 1946

“I have been told by reporters that they will not report their own insights or contrary evaluations of the official 9/11 story, because to question the government story about 9/11 is to question the very foundations of our entire modern belief system regarding our government, our country, and our way of life. To be charged with questioning these foundations is far more serious than being labelled a disgruntled conspiracy nut or anti-government traitor, or even being sidelined or marginalized within an academic, government service, or literary career. To question the official 9/11 story is simply and fundamentally revolutionary.”
-- Karen Kwiatkowski, Air Force Colonel, Pentagon official, 2006

"Those who can make you believe absurdities, can make you commit attrocities"
-- Voltaire

"To the living we owe respect, but to the dead we owe only the truth."
-- Voltaire